Madras High Court rejects plea challenging election of DMK whip E.V. Velu from Tiruvannamalai constituency

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E.V. Velu. File | Photo Credit: C. Venkatachalapathy

The Madras High Court on Wednesday (September 16, 2026) rejected an election petition filed by Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) candidate Arul Arumugam against the victory of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) whip and former Minister E.V. Velu from the Tiruvannamalai Assembly constituency this year.

Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy allowed two applications filed by Mr. Velu and concurred with the submissions of senior counsel P. Wilson that the election petition must be rejected at the threshold, as the plea does not disclose any cause of action requiring the conduct of a full-fledged trial.

In his first application, the returned candidate had urged the court to strike off from the election petition 57 paragraphs and 32 grounds. In his second application, he had pleaded for rejecting the election petition in toto, as the petitioner had not pleaded any material facts.

Allowing both applications, the judge said: “The complete and careful reading of the election petition discloses only two facts. The election petitioner, being a first time candidate, had to suffer the one upmanship of the returned candidate who belonged to the then ruling party. Despite this, the margin of victory was only 2,455 votes. The election petition, however, does not concisely point out any single circumstance that could vitiate the election so as to make out a triable issue.”

Mr. Velu was declared elected from the Tiruvannamalai constituency on securing a total of 88,273 votes as against 85,818 votes garnered by Mr. Arumugam. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate C. Elumalai had stood third by receiving 34,280 votes.

As many as 54 election petitions were filed in the Madras High Court after the conduct of the general elections in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry this year. So far, the High Court had rejected four of those election petitions in limine, without undertaking the elaborate process of examining witnesses.

Justice Chakravarthy had already rejected the election petitions filed against the victory of TVK MLA N. Elaiyaraja from the Uthangarai constituency and that of S. Jayakumar, who contested as an All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) candidate in the Perundurai constituency but joined the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam after resigning from his MLA post.

Separately, Justice G.K. Ilanthiraiyan had rejected the election petition filed against the victory of Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management K.A. Sengottaiyan from the Gobichettipalayam constituency.

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